


Tripping on the Cracks

by Lazchan



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 13:52:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11082936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: Yuuri moves to Detroit to get serious training to advance his career in figure skating;  even if he doesn't try, he still stands out among his classmates in college.





	Tripping on the Cracks

**Author's Note:**

> A short piece of pre-series Yuuri in college; a mini reveal fic! Everyone always does the after Yuuri's won all the medals, but c'mon. Kid Yuuri skating with all his heart in college the first time around? He had to break hearts.

Ali knew of Yuuri Katsuki; he was in one of her physics classes and she had first thought he was one of those prodigy kids and a  _ lot _ younger than he turned out to be. It turned out that he just naturally looked that way.

 

She had been the one to help him get to the class they shared; she knew enough Japanese from a few years in high school that she could at least reassure him that he was in the right building. When she questioned why he was in an English-speaking college, he had just gave her a sheepish smile. 

 

“I-- I can speak it, but I got nervous,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “And-- well, this was the place that was best, I mean-- for … I had to come here.” He stumbled over his words and when she wanted to question further, he gave her another nervous smile and then hurried away.  She managed to sit near him in every class after that and she told herself that it was  _ just _ to help him out if he forgot words. 

 

It  _ totally _ wasn’t because he was oddly adorable and earnest and the first time she saw him smile, her heart turned over. 

 

~

 

She found out that he didn’t go to many classes--and the ones he did go to, sometimes he wasn’t able to show up for. She was walking by one of the English classrooms when she heard his voice; he was talking to the TA about missing coursework. His English was better, only accented and she shook her head. She was going to be late and she thought it seemed rude to poke her head where it didn’t belong. 

 

She did wonder where he was always going off to, but she figured that he’d tell her when he was ready. They talked more during the class they shared. She knew he came from Japan recently, he was only eighteen and was overwhelmed by life in the States. He was here on a scholarship but when she asked which one, he mumbled something in Japanese that she didn’t catch and he never repeated it. 

 

Ali also found out she wasn’t the only one with a mild crush on Yuuri. She had been falling asleep over something about medieval history in the student center, one hand clutching at a coffee when she heard Yuuri’s name and she turned around, tuning into the conversation. 

 

“He came into class wearing those tight dance clothes,” one of the girls sighed. “His hair was all slicked back and he didn’t have his glasses on. He turned from the cute boy next door to insanely hot over the course of a day. Never got an explanation, but Megan says that she’s seen him over in the dance studio, doing ballet.”

 

“God, handsome, sweet  _ and _ he does ballet?” Ali had to hide her smile. “I bet he’s already taken or he’s jailbait.”

 

Ali had to speak up at that moment; even if she could have kept silent and used this newfound information to get closer to Yuuri. “I don’t know if he has someone, but he’s not underage. He’s eighteen,” she said offhandedly and all eyes went to her and then smiles went all around the table.

 

“You know Yuuri, too?” the girl asked and they made room for her at their table. “Come on and commiserate with with us about the mysterious Yuuri.” 

 

Ali had to laugh and wondered just what Yuuri would say about all this attention. He’d either be completely oblivious -- as he had been when Tori had hugged him a little  _ too _ enthusiastically for giving her a copy of his notes, or he’d blush and flee the scene. She decided that he’d be better off not knowing that he had devoted fans from the various classes he went to.

 

~

 

It was nearing October and while she was deep in plotting how to survive her finals, Yuuri had come up to her, al nervous energy once again. “I-- I’m going to have to be away for a few days.” He twisted his hands together. “I-- I know it’s rude to ask, but…”

 

“I can totally get notes for you,” she gave him a bright smile, somehow mustering the energy in the face of his uncertainty. “But right around exams, Yuuri?” She was a little concerned, he was a good student, but whatever he was doing couldn’t be that important.

 

“I’ll be in back in time for those,” he reassured her, pushing his glasses up his face; he had lost weight and the frames seemed too big for his face. “I’ll also be studying in the meantime, but I don’t want to miss anything important before the exam…” his voice trailed off. 

 

“Don’t worry,” she reassured him. “I…” she bit her tongue. She almost said that she’d get the rest of the group--which now included two boys from his English class--to get the rest of his notes, but he didn’t know about them at all.  “I hope you get help from all your classes,” she finished, voice a little strained.  _ It probably won’t be a problem…. _

 

She wondered again what he was going to be doing; she knew he wasn’t a dance student, even if he did it every so often. He always seemed to be running off if he wasn’t studying and studying if he wasn’t doing his part time job. No one knew where he worked, but his roommate said that he was never at the dorms until late and came back exhausted. 

 

“Yuuri…” she hesitated, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Don’t take on too much, okay?” she asked. “And don’t worry-- I’ll help you out any way that I can with this, even if you have to take a couple of days off to just study and not worry about anything else.”

 

“Th...thanks,” he didn’t pull away from the touch, which totally counted as a win in her book. 

 

~

 

“It’s  _ winter _ and already a frozen hellscape outside,” Ali wasn’t wanting to listen to her roommate try and convince her to leave the warmth of her bed. The heater was struggling to warm the place through a Detroit winter. Marina was way more peppy and outgoing than she was, but she was also one of the theater majors. She had weird hours and her side of the dorm room was filled with posters and playbills and bits of costumes that Ali swore were going to come alive in the middle of the night and smother her.  

 

“Sooo?” Marina bounced on her bed and tugged away the comforter she had wrapped around her, causing Ali to hiss and drag it back at the draft of cold air. “You can put on a coat and gloves and a scarf, but you’ll be moving around so much that you won’t even notice the cold! Come on, Ali. Wake up that brain after all those exams you’ve taken.”

 

“I can slip and fall on the ice outside,” Ali muttered, but Marina’s energy was catching and while she made an occasional grumble, she was soon bundled up and following Marina to the ice rink across town. She hadn’t gone for a few years and as they entered into the large arena, she heard chattering all around. “Why isn’t anyone skating?” she asked. People had on their skates, but most were watching the area. 

 

“Oh--it must still be practice time for the professionals,” Marina peered forward at the arena. There was one skater on the ice and their coach.. “We can get something warm to drink while we wait for them to finish.” She brightened a little. “And we can see what real skaters look like when they’re practicing! Isn’t it exciting, Ali?”. Ali had been dimly aware of some figure skaters training near the college, but since she was more focused on science than art, she never really thought of it. 

 

“You just want to see people being more dramatic than you,” Ali teased, but she grabbed hot cider for the both of them while they joined the small crowd watching through the windows. “Huh, you’d think that professionals would be somewhere other than  _ Detroit _ .” 

 

One of the boys watching heard them and he shook his head. “No-- the Skating Club here is one of the strongest in the  _ world _ . People come here from all over to get the best coaches and those coaches scout all over the place so they can get the best skaters.” He pointed towards the window. “Celestino Cialdini was top-ranked skater and now he gets more skaters to the Grand Prix and with gold medals than anyone except Yakov Felstman.”

 

“Well, Yakov has  _ Viktor Nikiforov _ ,” one of the girls chimed in. “Did you  _ see _ that last routine?” She stretched out her arms and leaned back and would have fallen on her skates if one of her friends didn’t support her. 

 

Ali realized she was surrounded by people who lived and breathed ice skating and she was starting to feel a little bit out of place as she listened to the conversations around her and waited for the ice to clear. She was just taking another sip of her still-hot cider when a voice cut across the din and registered in her ears. 

 

“Yeah, well-- we have Yuuri,” a boy beamed from his spot closest to the window. “We win.”

 

She sputtered into her drink and she finally  _ looked _ at the skater that was on the ice with the big-haired coach. “Yu… Yuuri Katsuki?”

 

Sure enough, her shy and oft-absent classmate was skating out on the ice, wearing those tight practice clothes she had heard about, arms stretched outward as he moved into some sort of complicated figure skating move that she didn’t have a name for. 

 

“You know Yuuri?” One of the girls looked astonished and clung to her arm. “Please, I have to get an autograph. He’s just so--” she sighed. “He’s so amazing and I could watch him skate all day.”

 

“I… um….” Ali realized all eyes were on her and at least  _ now _ she knew why Yuuri was gone all the time, if he was always skating like this. She knew at least enough about skating that it involved insane amounts of work. “He was in one of my classes,” she said weakly. “I didn’t know that he… was … famous?” He was sought-after by his classmates, but she  _ knew _ none of the low-key fanclub knew he skated. She had to grin to herself at how she was the first to find out about this secret side to him. 

 

“He’s not famous yet,” one girl explained, “but he’s so good and I know he’s going to win competitions this year. How could he not?” Ali had to admit that what she could see of Yuuri and what she could understand, he was absolutely stunning on the ice. It was hard to reconcile her shy, blushing classmate with his too big glasses and oversized clothes to the man that was skating on the ice, dancing to whatever music that was playing. 

 

“Y...yeah, I guess so--” There was the sound of a buzzer and all heads turned to see Yuuri skating off the ice, talking quietly to his coach and one of the other skaters. Even from here, they could see the uncertainty on his face, but his coach just patted him on the back and whatever he said made Yuuri relax a little. 

 

Marina appeared out of nowhere and clapped her on the back, causing her to nearly spill her drink again. “Alright, the skaters are off and we can go on as soon as they smooth out the ice,” she beamed. “Are you ready to become a world-class skater?”

 

Ali just laughed and shook her head at Marina’s enthusiasm. She would skate today and hopefully not make a fool of herself, but she found herself wanting to see more of  _ Yuuri _ skate and wanted to keep that for herself. Maybe she wouldn’t tell the fanclub at school; she didn’t want to share Skater Yuuri quite yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
